Vigil-aunties

The writer is an author, most recently of Slum Child (2010). She has written for numerous publications including Dawn, The Friday Times and Chowk

Imagine this: you are a young Pakistani woman walking in a Karachi park with a young man. He could be your brother, cousin, university friend, fiance, or husband. You are wearing a full burqa, and your companion is walking beside you, carrying on a conversation. You are a middle to lower-middle-class girl, with a lot of restrictions on your life, and this time in this public space, where you are modestly dressed and doing no harm, give you a bit of respite in a life that carries a lot of expectations about how you conduct yourself and what weight that places on your family’s respectability.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a group of fifteen upper-class women descend upon you. One of them has a microphone which she thrusts into your companion’s face, and there is a camera crew behind her, filming every moment. She claims to be doing a survey on mobile phone crime, but the questions she poses become more and more intrusive. “Are you college students? Yes? Then why aren’t you in class? It’s morning time.” The woman with the microphone assures you the camera is not recording, but the accusations become more pointed. “Are you on a date? Are you married? Where’s your nikahnama?”

You become afraid, because you know that if anyone from your family sees this spectacle, there will be no mercy for you. They will believe that you are an immoral girl: maybe you’ll be taken out of college. Maybe you’ll be beaten. Married off to someone you don’t know as a way of forcing you to behave. If you’re very unlucky, you might even be killed as a way of avenging the family honour. You hide behind your companion, but the microphone is thrust in your face. You scream out that you don’t want to be harassed like this, that you don’t want to answer any questions. Finally, you flee, while the group of women and camera crew chase after you, screaming “Bhago bhago bhago!” They are laughing and giggling hysterically, because to them, this is a fun game, while you are crying with fear and anxiety.

The television anchor who conceived of this segment for her television show thought she was doing a great service to society. “We need to make this park safe for families!” is her justification as the segment begins. But safety and families are not the words that come to mind when watching this clip. Instead, witch-hunt is one of them. Zia is another. Hudood Ordinance is a third. And privacy, hypocrisy, and ethics soon follow.

This clip brings to mind the tales of countless couples harassed by the police to prove they’re married in order to extort money out of them. It makes one wonder what drives a group of educated, affluent women to embarrass a young couple from a lower socioeconomic class, harass them to the point of hysteria, and then drive them out from a public space which is paid for by government taxes which that same socioeconomic class is more likely to pay than the class the affluent women come from. It makes one wonder whether Pakistanis have the right to privacy, and question the need to browbeat young adults about their presence in a public park, engaged in nothing more harmful than a walk on a beautiful winter’s day. It makes one wonder about how Talibanisation has invaded our mindset, when we can see something obscene in a normal act which people engage in all over the world.

Time and again the ethics of our media have been called into question, as channels embrace sensationalism in order to achieve the highest ratings. The television channel in question will find themselves open to legal action by victims of their harassment who are being portrayed on television without their consent. Airing this segment also appeals to the worst instincts in our hypocritical society by passing moral judgment in the name of family values upon two innocent people, which makes for some of the most irresponsible broadcast journalism found in Pakistan today. At the very least, the channel and the anchorperson owe an apology, if not compensation, to those two individuals who had hurt nobody on that day when they were ambushed and harassed by the television anchor and her Moral Aunty Brigade. The irony is that she describes herself on her Facebook page as “very fair and honest in her dealings”. I think that girl in the niqab, crying in the park, and her blameless friend, as well as any sane person with a conscience and a respect for other people’s privacy, would beg to differ.

The worst part is they don’t even have the decency to blur the faces of the couples while outright lying to them that “Cameras off hain”. It’s extremely rude and unprofessional. Samaa TV needs to be shut down.

this bullying not only humiliated the ppl in the park but put their lives at risk.that maya has come out defending her antics,not apologising but instead playing the role of a victim and portraying the ppl criticising her as some sort of immoral monsters shows that the self righteousness run pretty deep.this mindset of shaming girls into silence and subservience is nothing new.attaching a girl’s virginity status to her worth in society is an age old technique set by a patriarchal society to keep women firmly under male control and dominance.the gang of women chasing after ppl in the park were just acting the roles set out for women by society where they can gain the higher moral ground by humiliating and shaming other women.this pathetic display of women hunting down other women needs to end.

I am totally against burqua and arabic style hijabs, but if what is described here is true then these camera-clad burger bayvaqoof aunties should feel ashamed of themselves. It is very cruel, pathetic, insensitive, and they are risking the lives of these burqua-poshe girls….even though I believe burqua (especially abaayah) and hijab should be made illegal.

Not only Ms. Maya but also her team and the channel has to be condemned in harshest words possible. Moral policing is forced on people in the backwards, regressive, and socially stunted Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, and Saudi Arabia, but it has absolutely NO place in Pakistan. If Ms. Maya has even an ounce of dignity then she should apologize on the air, although I’d prefer if she and her supervisor are fired outright.

Its not just Maya Khan, the hating aunties and the cameraman that chased people around the park. There are always private security guards present and men with name tags on the fringes of the shots. Its very intimidating to be at the recieiving end of such acts given the presence of such individuals.

The funny thing was the little chat they had in between, it seemed as if the activity they did was all in shugal, and they were like ‘hum nay tou sab ko bagha diya hahhahaha’. I mean it was more of a prank joke rather than a morning show over a serious issue.

The clip is so disturbing that I couldnt sleep the whole night…Those aunties and the team of men and women were really enjoying on the misery of those being filmed, I have no words to express my hatred against this crap!!!

lol, I love how these people completely ignore the fact that their “stroll in the park” is forbidden in Islam and un-acceptable in this society, I’ve said before that what Maya did was completely wrong, but that doesn’t make your actions right. If you want to date someone so much, go to UK or USA, no one will bother you there no matter what you do, and please don’t call your religion “talibanization”, its a stupid term with no meaning.

They call themselves ‘High-class’ ???? That’s not how high class ladies act!! Wearing shades and trendy clothes doesn’t makes any one high-class or broadminded, they need to open up their minds and eyes. They themselves are accompanied by men, in that case eyebrows should be raised at them as well. The park doesn’t belong to their fathers!!

What is it that makes people like Maya Khan to believe they can do whatever they want and not be held accountable? Does religion teach moral pomposity? There is a thing called privacy and every citizen is entitled to their fundamental rights, M`dam Maya Khan can be taken to court by her victims for violating fundamental their rights. Truly disgusting behavior, she and her entire entourage need to apologize or be barred from television.

Could we ask Maya Khan and the Aunty Brigade to target the upper class in coffee shops please ? id love to see cameras being smashed and microphones crushed by the elite …and abuses hurled at them !…try it MAYA…im waiting for this …u dare not do this again !

How do they know if it is a young woman, when she is totally covered in burqa? It can be a 90 yr old as well, provided she walks like 19yr old.. One way for the young women to protect themsleves is to put some grey paint on their hair and claim to be an old woman. Other way is to have the man wear a burqa as well.

Well firstly I want to appreciate the author for bring forth this important issue.I saw some clips of the show and I can say that it was a cheap publicity stunt .Sometimes I wonder why the channels in charge of such morning shows decide to hire such anchors who have not a single bit of intelligence and personality to conduct such programs. I think the manner in which this host conducted the show talks more about her own character than those of the ones sitting in the park.This also reflect our society and its morality, we are nothing but a constipated society with double standards in all our matters.

did maya khan ever stop to think that sitting in the open air in a public park is NOT vulgar or obscene? she has a sick, dirty mind and the channel should be closed down for invasion of privacy and endangering and harrassing ppl!

I agree with Mj this should stop and we the people of Pakistan need to raise our voice and demand the channel to take the necessary actions against the anchor, because if we don’t express ourselves today its mostly likely to the situation where first they came for my neighbor and I didn’t speak then they came for me and there was no one to help me. Media’s “terrorism” will not be accepted at any cost.

Nice Article Thanks for speaking against the king of vigilantism. She had no right to disgrace any one. Maya,s act was against human rights, Many Channels have no values and and no moralities but they only exist to earn money and do any thing to increase their channel rating.

Allah says ‘tum dusro k aib pe purdah daalo, mai tumare aib per purdah dalunga’
meaning when you protect someones wrong , then only Allah will not expose your wrongs.
Humiliating and harassing girls on live tv was absolutely outrageous, immoral and illegal.
Moreover, If Maya Khan and her gang of desperate housewives and frustrated young girls indeed thought that they were doing a service and attempting to reform these girls, which I doubt, they should have kept in mind that Allah severely dislikes this self righteous and holier than thou attitude. Seeing them passing judgements on these girls and their morals was just nauseating.
Allah says that before casting stones at someone, one should look at oneself and only the person who finds him/herself pure from all faults in the eyes of Allah has that right. So let someone claim that he/she is perfect and then judge others.

Maya Khan should be fired , the channel should offer and public apology and they should be sued for invasion of privacy, infringement of a persons basic rights, harassment, psychological damage inflicted on the terrified young girls as well as the consequences, loss of face and possibly verbal and physical violence they might have had to face, lying to the children that the cameras were off and filming them without their permission as well as showing their faces uncensored on TV. Damages should be paid to victims and public apology issued.Recommend

I wish just half the people that have commented here, make the effort to contact Samaa TV and tell them that:
1. Maya Khan should stick to prancing around on the set of her show and not try to address self-conceived national issues.
2. Their channel needs a crash course in ethics.

I have done the same and hopefully if enough people do the same, this lame channel and its management will be forced to publicly apologize to those they harassed and to reconsider their programming.

The moral ethics of Islam in no way teach us to humiliate or raise our fingers at other people in such a way. The show should go off air by all means. It was ridiculous the way the aunties were enjoying themselves. Ridiculous.

those kids were just soft targets and were chosen because they would not fight back. she would not have had the guts to try questioning someone in a coffee shop. shame on her for putting the lives of those kids in danger. disgusting.

Thumbs up for the author of the article. It is very strange to see that morning show about the author is describing. I agree that the way they were sitting and behaving was not good but one cannot appreciate that media person behaviour of taking ten’s of ladies and media team along with her for sake of only her rating high.
Who has permited Media to interfare so deeply in our life. This question lies upon the shoulders of PEMRA. I wish that the said media person would use the so called Aazadi to eradicate feudalism, terrorism, injustice, bribe culture in govt offices, and 100s of problems affecting directly to the general public.

Thanx for writing ! This is exactly what i ws thinking when i saw it on utube . It reminds me of that poor girl who ws murdered by her uncle due to her video posted on internet . Moral brigade should hve kept this mind that there adventrous trip could Get dngerous for smeone .

The beginning of your article is utterly disappointing. Just because the female was wearing a burqa gave you the right to assume that she is from a lower class where she is subjugated by her family. Who gave YOU the right to assume that girl will be beaten if her family finds out she is in a park with a guy? I am sorry to say you are just a step behind Maya Khan.Recommend

This Maya woman should be ashamed of herself. I’d like to ask those upper-class women about their persona lives. This article is absolutely spot-on, as is the open letter to Maya Khan on another blog on this website. Seriously; how can we expect change from illiterate masses and corrupt feudals when so-called ‘educated’ class behaves this way?

I have heard once on a TV channel, where a vigil aunty was threatening a accused person ” I will beat you if you wouldn’t tell me the truth”. I felt like one should have slapped her and said “That is the quick justice you are looking for, aren’t you?”

I agree with the comments on this article but i want to do more. I want to know if there is some way we can force that show to shut down because people need to know that this kind of attitude is NOT acceptable AT ALL> We should take concrete action that this doesnt happen again

Although the print media is relatively more sensible, the news channels have mostly been practicing tabloid journalism; marked with unethical practices and time-wasting shows. I seldom turn to any news channel, but whenever I do, my opinion is kind of reinforced.

Why cant these aunties just mind their own business & start being good Mother In laws .
Go home & look after ur grand children .
Please let young couples enjoy .
Just bcoz you aunties dint get a life .

I would rather Maya Khan explained the exact purpose of her showing/running-after/interviewing couples sitting in the park.Simple apology will serve no cause instead it will create more curiosity in the minds of the viewers of her classic morning adventure in the company of a group of the most pious “nuns”.btw.ratings of her channel have gone very high since the airing of her morning hunt of evil,if hatred has any ratings

Thanks Bina Shah for penning down the thoughts and we should all try our best for not letting such moral brigades to disrupt our privacy and personal lives.
I wonder why the thrust of such moral brigades is on the poor peoples who belong to lower socioeconomic class.
The host should appologize for her act and the channel management must take note beside PEMRA take suo motto notice of this morning show. The morning show is doing something which doesn’t fall into their domain.

A very very well-written article………… i haven’t seen this morning show yet but what i have read here is enough for me to say that man should have slapped the anchor’s face for intruding their privacy………. am not saying that they were or were not right….. i don’t know them.. maybe they were friends, maybe they were fiances… whatever they were, they cannot be forced to answer questions on TV…. that’s a sheer intrusion in private lives of ppl…. this particular show, if not the channel, needs to be abandoned….

I am against Burqa too, but won’t go to that extend that it should be banned. There would be no difference b/w tailban and us if we start imposing our thoughts on others. Its just like the ‘burqa’s wali’ start demanding that no women should be allowed in public place without ‘Burqa”.

Very nice article. Why haven’t anyone sued her for what she has done. This is serious violation of privacy act. They were not some public figures to whom she was filming. They were ordinary people. What she did was totally unethical and should be banned from TV and sued.

For a Muslim woman to be sauntering around so irresponsibly, sharing public space with unknown men, is simply unIslamic and unacceptable. Merely because good Islamic men and women – busy with weightier matters, have not yet forcefully raised their arm against this insidious vice (which can destroy Pakistani families if it is allowed spread unchecked) you shouldn’t seek to normalize it.

Maya Khan is NOT going to be thrown out of her job any time soon.Recommend

Sub-standard thought and practice. why don’t this so called anchor- go with the camera to upper class parties and show the reality to 99% of population. (We know very well what actually happens there). Disgusting programme and she should be ashamed of this act in interfering in individual liberty.

If I would be there, I would have taken the anchor to the court of law.

For a Muslim woman to be sauntering around so irresponsibly, sharing public space with unknown men, is simply unIslamic and unacceptable.

This, precisely is what Maya Khan was doing.And she was on live TV too. And on top of that she was running around in High Heels and was not donning a Burqa.
I hope the Islamic Rules for lady are not different.Recommend

@Huma Shah: Thanks a billion for enlightening us about Zia’s death. I just learnt that he is dead… On another note, the mindset that Zia ul Haq nurtured throughout his era isn’t dead. They say as you sow so shall you reap… We are reaping what Zia sowed decades ago.

no matter what u say and write…a so-called aunty’s sentence was very chilling…’waaldain ko dhoka mat dain’….as a parent, do think for a moment how you would feel if your child sneaks out into forbidden places and keeps u in the dark….plz dont defend those sitting in the park .they know n u know they were wrong, it serves them right that they were exposed like that…do u people even realise that the highly chauvnistic society in which we live, and specially families of those belonging to low-income households, will simply NOT accept this kind of activities…then y do them? and we all know how many of these couples are ‘sincere’ and what kind of stuff is posted on youtube after these ‘dates’ in which ‘burqa clad’ women are seen…youtube is accepted, the guy’s cell phone’s camera is ok, but samaa tv is not accepted!! if there was no meat, maya wouldnt have gone there anyways…..

That is sick. A nauseating thing to see. An awful thing at the dirty cams of media accompanied by a bunch of frustrated, good-for-nothing aunties. How on earth do you feel you have the right of trespassing someone’s privacy?!! Recommend

Observer, in times of war, great Islamic ladies have marched in battle to defend and uphold God’s Truth. Leading her trained and camera-armed platoon, Maya Khan is a modern Muslim warrior lady, opposing vice and promoting virtue at her own level.

Most of us are familiar with the highly respected and much celebrated Asiya Andrabi of Srinagar. Maya Khan has not even advanced to the level of defending the throwing of acid on the faces of undisciplined women.

I think the basic idea behind Maya’s effort is noble. I watched the program on Samaa. My only objection is that the troop of women doing the job was clad in purely un-islamic clothes with considerable make up and bare faces, not to mention bare-headed and without full hijabs! And they were out gallivanting openly without being consorted by their mehrams. This was hypocracy at its worst. I wish there was another troop of religious women doing a show on them !!

“Played the clips of young couple on national television, who requested to turn off the cameras.” hmm… if they were clear from any guilt and they told their parents where they are going and not lied to them, then why they wanted camera to be turned off?
Why we are going for two extremes?Recommend

Whatever their camera have recorded about young couples showed up on tv ,i watched that and i feel girls covered in burka are doing wrong to their parents by sitting along with a guy from the college in such a manner that any one can suspect their character as bad .Bina Shah Maya wasnt invading the privacy ,it was just a try to show up the trend of dating which is growing up in our lower middle class and parents need to see to it . Good job Maya .Recommend

The article of Bina Shah narrates the ordeals being faced by almost all couples in public places either by police, religious fanatics. However, humiliating common people by media persons is something new. It is shameful act and the so called high-class people have disgraced the boy and girl. It should be condemned and the TV which aired the video clip should extend an apology.

Simply shameful. The society needs a thorough overhaul but ………… who will cat the bell? Fanatics are all around and youth is being radicalised with complete impunity. And most unfortunate is the fact that this sorry state of affairs does not appear to end in the Islamic Republic anytime soon.

in times of war, great Islamic ladies
have marched in battle to defend and
uphold God’s Truth. Leading her
trained and camera-armed platoon, Maya
Khan is a modern Muslim warrior lady,
opposing vice and promoting virtue at
her own level.

Now I am confused. Are you being subtly ironic or grossly defensive of the vigil-aunties?
:-)

My father in law and mother in law met in park like this 30 years and they fell in love and living happy life, people like maya khan would have never let them fall in love and make their decisions if she were there 30 years ago.

it is showing that we are living in morally and psychologically sick society and our media knows no ethical or moral limits. our media anchor asksa raped girl or her father or a dying person inserting his/her microphone in his/her mouth ” how do you feel over this incidence?” moreover who will decide which way is islamic to correct the mistakes of others. we must correct ourselves not the others.

The best way to get the show off the air, stop watching it. The fact that our society watches these things is the only reason they get aired. All channels run as a business, people stop watching the rates go low and it will get shutdown.

Maybe Maya Khan should show some guts and go to one of those affuent upper class parties, the likes of which i have personally seen Maya Khan attend and trust me.. a camera in one of those parties.. half of the morning, and evening shows would be shut down!! stop with the hypocrisy!!

This is the independent media we are proud of. They have taken their liberty too far. The anchors, hosts pose to be all-knowing who pronounce verdicts on each and everything. They should be condemned by the sane elements of the society if there are any!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maya Khan once ran a show with Sharmila Faruqi in it where she was at a police station talking to 2 child molesters who murdered the little girl they had raped. Funny, Maya made sure those 2 savage men’s faces were never filmed and shown to viewers, but in this instance she airs the faces of innocent girls unobscured without their permission because as far as Maya was concerned they were committing a much worse crime than what those 2 rapists did.

Excellent article. I am appalled that there was no consideration for the repercussions for the girl and her life, esp in a middle class society. Disgusting and cruel. And I cant believe the idiot director didnt have the decency to at least blurr out the faces.

Most of us are familiar with the highly respected and much celebrated Asiya Andrabi of Srinagar. Maya Khan has not even advanced to the level of defending the throwing of acid on the faces of undisciplined women.

Are you saying that in order to be ‘highly respected‘ and ‘much celebrated‘ Maya Khan should have run after the ‘undisciplined women‘ with a bottle of acid?

Moderator ET- Kalchakra’s views have already been posted, I am only seeking a clarification. That does not amount to disrespect I guess.

And if this girl will be killed by some of her family male member becoz of the ” ghairat”
Maya khan will be the first one to come on tv with sad makeup and will cry like anything on this “sad”incident.these morning show host should be banned.Recommend

Part -1
I feel Ms Maya suffers from ignorance and the fact that she invited 15 farigh aunties (who probably should be wearing burkhas themselves while running, yes running and panting, in their fitted clothes for the public to see) (do notice three of the aunties were wearing hijabs) to join her in this couple hunt makes one wonder where she got this ridiculous idea. My take on this is as follows: A park is a public place, one is free to walk, talk, run, dance, exercise, eat, laugh in a park

Part 2 –
No law stops you from doing this and NO law stops two people (say man and woman) to do visit a park and walk together talk, sit, run or eat. She kept saying boys and girls come here for dates, well they can go to a coffee shop for dates no one is going to question them in a coffee shop (so coffee shops should check couples for ID before allowing them in???) or for than matter any public place. She would only be right in making this absolutely ridiculous documentary if there was more to just a boy and girl, man or woman sitting in a park (i think we all know what i mean), however not one person she attacked was doing anything more than just sitting and talking.

Part 3 –
I seriously think SAMAA has made a error in reporting a ghatia tareen documentary which was absolutely inconclusive! the report just didnt make sense which is why its received a horrible feedback. Not sure what Ms. Maya was trying to capture here other than the point that people go to public places to date. But that is known to everyone in every school whether co-ed or not. All i can say is Pakistan was not like this 30 years ago and that we are today in the 21st Century and people have bigger issued to deal with then people dating like the situation in Baluchistan and KP. she should go there to make a report and show that on her morning show. incredibly pathetic of her and the aunties.

this is by far the most sickening thing iv seen in a very long time. Who does maya think she is God!!! coz not even the prophets went around with brigade of self proclaimed holies. She needs to be fired. Media does not mean u have the right to barge in on ppls lives

I could not belive my eyes when i saw that programme ..the bunch of aunties openly harrasing couples.. i think there should be some furhuer action against that entire team of aunties.. i dont know what but.. may be suo-moto from SC..

The real problem is that we only go after one side of the story n rest follow. Can see no one condemning the bad practices going on in public parks etc. Running away hiding their faces is enough to prove their being wrong. A legal couple would never do that. So lets be fair and condemn both sides.

I have been avoiding to watch shows on Pakistani news channels because of the countless absurdities there, and fairly, have shown no reaction so far excepting blasting them in our news room, but on that day I couldn’t hold my rage to come out in a huge cry. I wished to write against this mother of all crimes of our news media, but I have to write much for our bulletins so that I couldn’t make my wish materialise, but to see this piece I think the job has been done. Thank You Bina Shah!

The women who conducts this morning show tries to stop these dates, these mixing of boys with girls whereas on the other hand, she herself indulges in such activities. Saw some of her pictures on facebook. And, honestly, I was just laughing hysterically! Not because I found this funny but because I fear what my Pakistani people are today turning in to!…

I am extremely grateful to you for writing this article, someone had to and you did it most beautifully and decently.
Okay, if they were dating then yes it is wrong, absolutely wrong I believe. But what was done by this TV anchor was far far more worst.
No one has the right to disgrace people of the lower social-class like this. They were dating there because they couldn’t afford meeting up a coffee shop at Zamzama to enjoy that morning and they wouldn’t probably meet at a club the following night.
Maya Khan, keep a morning show and let’s focus high social class of the society. Let’s enter clubs in DHA and run after them, and mind me if you do then I will run along with you.
Moreover, no one has any right to disgrace any women in pardah like this: